Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendations of the report by the National Neurosciences Advisory Group on their June 2019 Mental Health and Neurosciences Leaders Away Day, published on 24 July.

While the Department has not made a specific assessment, NHS England and NHS Improvement work closely with the National Neurosciences Advisory Group (NNAG) which is a collaborative leadership group for neurosciences in England. The group is co-chaired by Professor Adrian Williams, who is also Chair of the Neurosciences Clinical Reference Group, at NHS England and NHS Improvement. The report published on 24 July, stems from the June 2019 Mental Health and Neurosciences Leaders Away Day, which was attended by senior NHS England and NHS Improvement officials.

The NNAG will begin consulting NHS England and NHS Improvement on the drafting of new clinical pathways across neurology shortly and aims to publish these on the Neurological Alliance website by the end of 2020. Furthermore, work is ongoing in other areas of NHS England and NHS Improvement to improve integration of care for neurology patients. For example, the training curriculum for Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Long-Term Conditions programme is being updated and, once completed, mental health services will be able to pursue integration with neurological pathways